Action Asked to Prevent Fire Code Violations

April 19, 1979

The Federation of Citizen Associations voted unanimously at its monthly meeting last week to ask Mayor Marion Barry and the City Council to take action to prevent fire code violations in halfway houses.

A spokesman for the association said members felt it was important that halfway house residents be protected from situations that result in fires such as the one last week in which nine elderly women died.

The federation, which represents citizens' groups throughout the city, is opposed to locating halfway houses in residential neighborhoods without public hearings on the matter. Until last week, public hearings were required only for certain types of halfway houses. However, under emergency legislation passed after the Mount Pleasant fire, public hearings now are required before any halfway house can be established.

The federation meeting, held in the District Building, was attended by about 40 persons.

Federation members also voiced concern about their continuing effort toward bail bond reform.For more than three years, the organization has attempted, first through Congress and now locally, to change the law that allows certain repeat offenders to remain free on personal recognizance bonds or low bail.

A spokesman for the federation said the group now is trying to get City Council support to change the Bail Reform Act. Members of the organization feel that if the law is changed, it will reduce crime by getting repeat offenders off the street.

In other matters, the organization discussed the problems caused when residents fail to put addresses on front and rear doors of buildings, the reduction in the number of postal pickups from mail boxes and problems associated with the increase of dog owner-ship in the District.